Ghosts That We Knew
by TheDoctorHarkness
Summary: Story not limited to these characters. Title subject to change. OC-centric. Later OC/? Pairing- Nellie Wesson, a SHIELD Agent well known yet seldom seen. An experiment on both sides of the spectrum. Her memory now gone as one side seeks to reform her and the other looks to get back what was theirs. (Hiatus)
1. Introduction & Emotion

_**Okay, well..first..I own nothing that I may or may not use except for OC and any I may create in the future depending on how this pans out...**_

_**This hasn't been beta-read and to make it worse I typed it up on my iPod. Yeah. Pain in the ass. I don't own a computer *eyeroll***_

_**Anyway, not sure where I'm going with this but...wanted to give writing a fanfic a second shot :P**_

_**Enjoy..**_

* * *

The first thing I remember, meaning the oldest memory I have, is darkness. Being trapped. There's _white_...so much _white_... The pinpricking of needles and being pushed to limits of the mind that still have me mentally and emotionally tired to this very day.

The freshest memory I have...chains. Or are they handcuffs? I can't be entirely sure, my vision is blurry and consisting of foggy shapes, but it is enough to know that I'm not alone in this...prison?

My ears pick up the sound of someone moving closer with steady and confident steps as I stare down at the gray concrete floor beneath my bare feet. I don't bother looking up when I see a dark mass stop a few feet from me..waiting.. I can feel their eyes on me and it makes me want to fidget, but I don't. It's an instinct I have within me...but I don't know where it comes from and that worries me.

I realize with a start that I have no recollection of who I am. My name, birthday, nothing. Not even the color of my hair or my eyes... And that..._terrifies_ me.

"Miss Wesson?" the voice is male and sounds used to being respected and in a leading position, asking the questions not answering them. Wesson...is that my name? An image of a gun pops in my mind and I wonder briefly as to why.

I tilt my head in his direction, looking at what I'm assuming to be his black shoes and wait. "Do you know where you are?"

I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes forth. I frown and try again, quickly becoming frustrated as I realize I could easily form the words in my mind, yet my vocal cords seem almost..._unwilling_ to voice them. Resigned to my plight I looked up a bit further, sight still blurry and shook my head then shifted my wrists in a gesture meant to say 'Why am I cuffed, _you dick_?'. However, it probably came across more like 'Please let me go, _you dick_.'

I heard the man in front of me let out a sigh, it sounded..disappointed. I shook the metal around my wrists again, with a small bit more force this time to get my point across.

"You are currently in a holding cell within SHIELD headquarters." he paused, as if waiting for something before continuing a moment later. "I am Agent Phil Coulson. Does any of that sound familiar to you?"

My frown deepened and I shook my head again. There was a niggling in the back of my mind and I tried to grasp at it, it only floated away until the sensation seemed to have been a false manifestation of my mind.

I strained against the metal, a sort of whimper coming forth as I began to feel trapped. An uncomfortable and instinctual feeling deep within telling me that this was wrong, that something about this was..bizarre.

Hands touched mine and I went against that instinct inside me, whatever it was, and flinched away. There were words being spoken, some of them yelling and commands and I tried covering my ears but the damn hands stopped me.

My breathing came faster and faster until it felt as if I would exhaust my lungs and they would just give out. I tried calming myself. Nothing worked because I knew no methods that could possibly seem appealing enough to me. I was freaking out and it scared me even more than this entire...situation.

I felt a pricking sensation in my neck and i nearly stopped breathing all together. My already blurred vision becoming just a mass of blobs and colors until everything went dark and I fell unconscious.

* * *

"No one ever listens to the doctor, I told you she was harmless and the cuffs were a bad idea!" the voice was harsh and yet still soft as the man pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Doctor Banner, you should rest. We'll alert you when she becomes conscious." Agent Coulson's voice was placating but stern as he looked at Bruce Banner, hand twitching toward his gun.

Bruce sighed and shook his head, "Get those cuffs off her before she wakes up." He left the holding cell, his breathing a slow and forced calm as he tried to stop the boiling of agitation within him.

Agent Coulson watched him leave. When satisfied he wouldn't 'Hulk Out', (which reminded him he needed to have a word with Stark after this), he turned to one of the Agents on his left and gestured to the girl now laying limply on the small cot. "Get those restraints off and tell the Director I'm on my way up." He turned to go, "Alert me when she wakes up."

"Yes, Sir." The young Agent moved forward to unlock the cuffs on the girl and then left the holding cell, door hissing and locking behind him.

* * *

Director Nick Fury was in the middle of a conference call with The Board when Agent Coulson walked in and waited patiently by the door for him to wrap it up.

"The girl will stay secure until we are sure she's not a threat. Are we clear, Director Fury?" One of the Board members said, it wasn't a request, and terminated the connection.

"Good news for me, Agent Coulson?" Fury asked, turning to look at him with his good eye, leather trench coat clad arms behind his back.

"Not really, sir." was Coulson's smooth reply.

Director Fury rose an eyebrow and waited for one of his top Senior Agents to elaborate on why exactly he had come to him with something that wasn't good news.

"She was awake, sir, but sedated now. She's...," Coulson hesitated to find a way to describe it. "damaged."

Fury's face showed confusion as well as agitation. "What do you mean 'damaged'? I was there when we bagged her, she was fine."

Agent Phil Coulson did something he rarely did, he sighed and looked away from the Director while continuing with the debriefing. "She couldn't speak, nor seemed to have any recollection of the small amount of information I gave her. She flinched away from me.." The last was softly spoken, the man seeming oddly vulnerable, the moment not going unnoticed by the Director.

The room was silent a moment before Fury finally spoke after heaving a sigh. "Has anyone spoken to Agents Barton or Romanov?"

Quickly composing himself Agent Coulson looked back to the SHIELD head, "No, Sir. They were my next stop after you."

"How long until the sedation wears off?"

"An hour or two." Coulson hesitated, "Sir?"

Fury closed his eye. "More bad news?"

"She's not healing, sir."

"**_What_**?" the one word was sharp and heavy with irritation as he looked over at Agent Coulson.

"She's not healing, sir."

"As soon as she so much as _twitches_, I want to know."

Coulson nodded. "Yes, sir."

"You are dismissed, Agent."

As he turned to leave the room, Director Fury sighed sat down at his desk. Glancing over the many reports and dossiers his eyes landed one in particular, the dossier of the twenty-six year old woman that was now laying sedated down in a holding cell and opened up the folder. On top of the large stack of papers was a picture of the woman, five years younger than she was now, with a small smile on her face. Wavy, dirty blonde hair framing her slightly pale face, hazel-green almond shaped eyes, sparkling with a small bit of mischief, were set over a small sloping nose that was above a set of cupid's bow lips, the bottom a bit larger than the top.

The picture of Penelope Rose Wesson. A woman whom, from the information he had gathered from Agent Phil Coulson, no longer knew who, where, or what she was.

_Damn it._

Director Nick Fury's job just got that much more complicated. He was _NOT_ looking forward to telling the Board that their top Agent and silent project had become all but completely obsolete.

And as he reached for the small decanter of scotch in a locked drawer within his desk, he had the vague thought that he was turning into Stark; drinking before lunchtime.

_Double damn it._

* * *

**_Again, not sure where I'm going with this, but if there's a good enough want for a continuance then I will do so. If not I'll either Soldier On anyway, or take it down. So! Let me know. Review please, ConCrit welcomed in a polite manner, rudeness greatly unaccepted and highly ignored with a bit right back atcha (got a wicked tongue, me XD) that...was dirtier than I meant it ._.'_**

**_Anyway! Dunno when I'll update again, may be a few days. Sorry for any and all mistakes as they are my own. **Cassia_**


	2. Get a New Color Scheme

_**Pardon the delay, was trying to iron out a few kinks and reach an endgame for this as this is the first fic I haven't prewritten, but I figured it would be better that way so I actually write and upload :P**_

_**Anyway, thank you those who alerted this! And I apologize in advance for any mistakes you may find, did my best to weed them out.**_

_**I own nothing, if I did...let's just say Cap wouldn't wear spandex.**_

_**Enjoy..**_

* * *

When I rejoined the land of the conscious I didn't open my eyes immediately, just taking in the brief minutes before I had been sedated, and I keep my breathing deep and even. Someone is watching me, I can feel their eyes on my face and I do my best not to frown.

It's a weird thing, knowing someone was watching you while you slept. It made me vaguely uncomfortable and I willed whomever it was to go away. After a good three minutes I breathed out a sigh and slowly opened my eyes.

Everything was still blurry and disjointed, but it was better than what it had been before, I was able to distinguish separate shapes instead of them being one massive collage as it had been yesterday. I turn my head to the left and see that someone is sitting near the bed I was lying in.

"How do you feel?" The voice is male and sounds familiar but I know that it isn't the one from before.

I give a noncommittal shrug, not really wanting to try talking again, and I notice that the cold metal that had been around my wrists before is gone now and it makes a small feeling of relief blossom in my chest.

"Took quite the knock on the head, apparently you don't remember anything of the past-" he starts to pique my interest with the information, but was interrupted by a commanding and slightly cold voice.

"Agent Barton, any particular reason _why_ you are here? _Without_ clearance."

I look in the direction of the voice and raise an eyebrow. The people I've seen so far, which is now three, have worn black all over and it makes me think that it's either a dress code to be dark and depressing or they live on an awkward government sanctioned budget.

"Just visiting a friend, Sir." I looked back in the direction of the man to my left, Barton is what believe the man had said. He was my friend? I was so wrapped up in attempting to make sense of the thought - _how did he know me? Were we good friends? Had we known each other long?_ -, that I missed a great deal of the conversation and only started paying attention once again when I caught 'Barton' moving, leaning toward me in fact.

"I'll be back soon as I can, Nell." he quietly said, I assumed because of the two men standing near the doorway. He quickly stood and mumbled something to them, but I was too far away for me to hear it very well. He had called me 'Nell'...it was obviously a nickname and I wondered what it was short for, but the feeling it had given me..a sort of warmth was something I wondered further upon.

I now knew two things about myself and that was apparently my first and last name; 'Nell Wesson'.

When he was gone, one of the men stepped forward and I sat up not wanting to seem so..vulnerable just lying there on that small bed.

Here was the head honcho, I could tell by the confidence in his gait and the long black coat over more black (seriously, there are more colors in the rainbow).

"Miss Wesson, I have someone here who's going to escort you to our medical floor. You will go calmly or we will restrain you, are we clear?" It was the man who had interrupted Barton, and it made me scowl at the thought of having that steel wrapped around my wrists again. This guy did not instill any sort of..comfort within me, but instead had me slightly on edge.

I gave him a nod and saw him raise an arm, making my fingers twitch, as if ready to defend myself. But there was no need as he was only beckoning someone forward.

"Agent Yates will accompany you to our medical floor and then to my office. Do you understand?" he asked.

He was talking to me as if I was incompetent and it grated on my nerves. Nonetheless, I gave him another nod and flexed my toes against the cold concrete. I wasn't sure if I would be able to stand without making an ass of myself by pitching forward or something, luckily Agent Yates, who was actually wearing a dark blue jumpsuit, came closer and put a gentle hand on my shoulder. The action made me tense, but I didn't push the appendage away and allowed him to slowly help me stand. My legs were slightly trembling but I was confident that I wouldn't fall.

Their staring was really starting to make me uneasy and I rolled my shoulders trying to get rid of the tension gathering between my shoulder blades. I waved my hand in front of me in a gesture that was to say '_lead the way_'.

Agent Yates began leading me out of the holding cell and away from Tall, Dark, and Intimidating. I walked a bit closer to him than was probably comfortable for either of us, but I had a feeling that were I to tell them that I couldn't see very well, something not that great would happen. And I liked living, even if I didn't know who the hell I was or what I was doing here.

Once we entered an elevator he pressed the button for the medical floor and I could feel him repeatedly glance at me, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

After a good minute of the staring he finally spoke, "You know, I've heard stories about you. A lot of people have...most think you're just a legend or something,"

He continued to ramble on and I did my best to listen, but the sound of his voice was grating and I breathed a sigh of a relief when he stopped talking as the elevator doors open with a quiet swish.

* * *

_**Sorry for the dull-ish chapter and for cutting it off where I did, but I've already started the third chapter so that should be up in two/three days(:**_

_**Review if you can. ConCrit welcomed. **Cassia**_


	3. Medical & Dr Banner

**_Um...wow. Sorry guys, really didn't mean for this to be so disgustingly late. Especially where I ended the last chapter :P_**

**_Anyway, hope this can sort of make up for it and apologies for any horrendous mistakes you may find._**

**_Enjoy.._**

* * *

Once again as he lead me, I walked a bit closer than probably socially acceptable and was glad when we finally reached a set of steel doors. Agent Yates pushed one open and gestured for me to go through first, and though I was surprised by that small act of chivalry, I was annoyed by it as well.

Trying to keep the scowl off my face, I slowly entered the room. There was so much steel and the temperature had to be at least ten degrees colder than in the hall. I stopped a few feet in front of the threshold, slightly trepidatious of walking into something or someone.

Yates followed me inside, stopping at my right shoulder as he spoke and gestured toward someone inside the room. "Miss Wesson, this is Doctor Banner. He'll be the one checking you over and I'll be right outside."

The way in which he said where he'd be made me raise an eyebrow, as if he thought I would try escaping unless I knew he would be waiting.

Once he left the room and the door quietly shut behind him, I continued standing where I was as my eyes moved over the blurry shapes, trying to separate the doctor from the masses of equipment. The only way he was clearly set apart was by the color of his shirt - purple.

"You don't have to be scared, I won't hurt you." His voice sounded from the left, near the back of the room and I noticed that his tone held the slightest hint of nervousness.

However, I stayed standing where I was and gestured for him to come to me, my cheeks warming from embarrassment. He seemed to briefly hesitate before finally making his way to me with tentative steps and stopping a few feet away in front of me.

"Really, I won't hurt you. They're only-" I quickly cut him off with a wave of my hand.

I immediately tried to think of someway to tell him that not only could I not talk, but I could hardly see worth a damn. Nothing came to mind, unfortunately, and Doctor Banner once again began to speak.

"I know that you can't talk, so you won't be able to tell me anything." he briefly paused before continuing. "Are you able to write?"

Sighing, I shook my head and held up three fingers, closed my hand into a fist and held up my index finger before pointing to myself.

He was silent a moment before making an exclamation that he understood, "I?"

Nodding, I then held up two fingers and then crossed my hands over each other at the wrist and sharply swung them outward.

"Safe?"

A head shake.

"Clear?"

I rolled my eyes and did the gesture again.

"...Not?"

I smiled and nodded. Holding up three fingers, I then pointed to each of my eyes and waited for him to understand.

"Eyes..sight...see?" he mumbled the first two, the correct answer sounding vaguely confused.

I nodded in reply and flexed my toes on the tile floor.

Doctor Banner made a sound as if he had just figured out an equation which had bothered him for days after mumbling a bit to himself. I briefly wondered what he looked like as his mannerisms indicated to me he really didn't want to bring me harm in any way on purpose, unlike the brief flashes of the doctors my mind seemed to bring forward when I heard and thought of the word.

He gently placed a hand on my shoulder and I once again tensed, having to force myself not to flinch or knock his hand away. No doubt he noticed my now rigid posture, yet said nothing, only leading me to a medical table with a sort of forced calm. As if he was trying not to frighten me.

Once I was sitting on the medical table, my blurred vision fixed the best it could be on his form as he sat down in front me. We were both silent and it made me slightly uneasy.

"You can't see." It was a statement, not a question but I gave a half-assed response anyway by shaking my hand in a '_so-so_' gesture.

"Am I the only one that knows?" he fidgeted with something in his lap, but I couldn't make out what it was.

I gave him a nod and began to lightly kick my feet back in forth, needing my legs to continue moving while he, no doubt, silently assessed me.

He sighed and rolled away on the stool he had sat down on. I heard something clattering together, making me still while I tried o figure out what he was doing and if I needed to be ready and on edge for anything he may or may not do.

Doctor Banner rolled back and placed a silver tray covered in a blue cloth and other blurred objects near my thigh. He pulled on a pair of latex gloves, picked up a small package and ripped it open. "I'm going to be taking some blood," he took four things from the package and set them out on the blue cloth. "Can you make a fist with your right hand for me?" After doing so, he tied an elastic band around my bicep and rubbed the crook of my arm with an alcohol wipe.

When he had sufficiently filled three tubes and set them down onto the blue covered tray, I gave a loud sigh and heard him softly chuckle in response.

"Sorry, after this I'm going to be checking a few other things." he took off the elastic band and taped some cotton over where the needle had been.

After taking my blood, Doctor Banner performed some other tests, most of them were easy, but some were difficult when he would ask me a question and I couldn't answer it, either because I didn't know/remember or because I couldn't speak. He would start the tests by telling me why they were needed and what it was he was checking and doing, but other than that he made no effort to speak of himself or..."SHIELD". All of the tests took half an hour to complete, but I liked being in his presence as he was gentle and if at any moment I tensed he would stop what he was doing and attempt to calm me.

"Well, other than the obvious, you're relatively healthy. I'm sure the blood tests won't turn up anything out of the ordinary." he said after sitting back and quietly sighing. "Your pupils react as they should to light, and I noticed you seem to have been hit quite hard right," he stood and gently moved his fingers over my scalp before finding the offending area, making me cringe at the sharp pain. "here. Now, I have a pretty good guess what's been affected, but I'll have to wait until you come back tomorrow to know for sure due to a theory I have."

I raised an eyebrow and watched as his purple shirt clad form moved around the various instruments in the room. He opened a cabinet and moved some things around before walking back to me.

"I'm going to give you a booster. It should help speed you up and keep you alert." he retied the elastic band and waited for the veins to become apparent. After administering the shot, Doctor Banner took off the band and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Some advice, try not to believe every single thing Fury says. He's..." he sighed before patting my shoulder and stepping away. "just don't let your guard down. All right?"

Even though I was confused, I gave him a nod anyway while he went to tell Agent Yates that the tests were now finished.

My head felt fuzzy and yet clear at the same time. My eyesight becoming slightly clearer and it made me smile. I don't know what the hell had been in that "booster", but I wasn't complaining.

I just hoped that I could actually trust Doctor Banner and his word, since I apparently couldn't trust the Top Dog's.

* * *

_**Right! Apologies that this wasn't longer...or that interesting...but I'm still tweaking things, but I have a very good idea of what I want to do now! So that should make things easier :)**_

_**I would like to thank OffbeatUpbeat, NotSupposedToBeHere, and orderofphoniex for adding this to their alerts! As well as TheCoolCatSlept for their review :)**_

_**I promise I'll try to update quicker and with something a helluva lot more interesting xP btw, I am by no means a medical professional T.T**_

_**Review please! **Cassia**_


	4. My Name is Clint

**_Ha! 3 days! :D and I did most/all of this chapter today, so, like, go me :P_**

**_Disclaimer:_**I own Nellie...and most probably Yates. And the burned down building. Nothing else.

_**excuse any mistakes you may find, I did my best read through!**_

_**Enjoy..**_

* * *

The meeting I was forced to be in, with whom I now knew to be Director Nick Fury, had been long and slightly drawn out, but now I knew more about myself. Which, I guess was a plus, except that I had a feeling he had not told me everything.

Just as I hadn't let him know my vision wasn't how it should be. But it seemed as if whatever the good doctor had given me was helping. Maybe it was some special healing serum... Who knew with government types? Everyone I had met thus far was secretive and slightly shifty.

Upon my leaving the Director's office, he had handed me a folder that apparently contained information of myself, should I choose to go over it again, and an itinerary for the next week. I didn't really plan on being here that long, but decided that as long as no one stepped on my toes, I would be fine.

On the walk from the Top Dog's floor, Agent Yates had been quiet as he lead me down one floor past Medical. Fury had decided that I "deserved" to have my own room for my display of "good behaviour". That stupid thought was enough to make my eyes roll.

This floor was obviously where the other living quarters were kept. The corridor lined with half a dozen or so black doors on each side of the otherwise empty hallway. There was no one walking around, which I assumed meant that everyone had their "work hours" now... Whatever time of day it was; I didn't know.

Agent Yates stopped at the fifth door down on the right and opened the door after entering a small code into the keypad beside the door. "Either myself or another Agent will come to collect you for your return trip to Medical tomorrow. If you need anything, my number, as well as Agent Coulson's and your room code, is on the bottom of your itinerary list." He waited until I was inside the room to begin closing the door before saying, "Feel better, Miss Wesson."

The room was not special by any means, but it was _mine_, and I could be _alone_ here. There were two other doors in the room, one I assumed to hid a bathroom, while the other a closet. The bed was big enough, I noticed, to hold at least two people, and was covered in a blue comforter and two black pillows. I didn't understand why they thought I needed such a big bed, but I sure wasn't going to complain about it.

A brown desk with a small computer was to my left against the wall and near the door to, what I assumed to be, the bathroom. I walked to the desk and placed down the folder, flipping it open and moving the pages around to try and make out the words on the white pieces of paper. With a growl of frustration I slammed the folder shut and walked over the bed, flopping down face first.

I _hated_ this. I hated having the information right at my fingertips and being wholly unable to read it. This entire..situation frustrated me. I felt as of I should be doing something, should be out walking those halls that I felt I had walked down plenty of times, but now remembered nothing.

Just as I was beginning to really throw myself a pity party, there was a knock on my door, causing me to flip over onto to my back and debate whether or not I should open it.

The knob of the door turned after a small beep sounded.

Guess my decision was just made for me.

* * *

Director Fury was currently debating whether or not he should contact the Board. The truth was that he had no wish to do so. There have been moments in his career where he just really wanted to tell them where exactly it is they can shove some of their plans.

He should have known sending her on that mission alone without the Black Widow or Hawkeye as backup was foolish. Especially given what had happened the last time, though of course those repercussions had been much easier to deal with. Who would really miss a now burned down mob hangout in Boston?

Experiment 11, which is what his superiors called her, despite the obvious fact that she had a name, had always been a bit of a wild card, a complete hurricane when provoked, but this time was different. The outcome of her last mission almost made him regret telling the Board about the young woman who, at the time, had an unharnessed skill set that could be of great use.

And it had been, her ability to slip into the background and to quickly adapt to almost any situation was something SHIELD had needed- Natasha could only be in one place at a time.

With a sigh Director Fury forwent contacting the Board. The shit still had yet to finish hitting the fan, he didn't want to throw more up there.

* * *

He entered my room, quietly shutting the door behind him and stood by my desk.

"How'd the tests with the doc go?"

Ah, it was Barton who had entered without my permission, though I felt that he probably did this frequently.

I sat up and looked over at him, eyebrow raised high. He seemed to belatedly realize he wouldn't get a verbal answer from me and so changed his question.

"He wasn't too hard on you?"

His voice had softened as he dragged the desk chair toward me and sat down on it backwards, forearms resting on the wooden back.

I shook my head and continued looking him over. If I focused my eyes hard enough, my eyesight wasn't so abysmal. Allowing me to sort of make out his face - attractive - and that his eyes were focused completely on my face.

It was making me the slightest bit uncomfortable, so I stood and went toward my desk, feeling his eyes follow me all the while. There was one big drawer in the middle of the desk, pulling it out I saw what I was looking for; a pad of paper and a few pens. Picking up the pad and a pen, I walked back to the bed and sat down, folding my feet under my thighs.

Squinting down at the paper so that I could make sure my writing wasn't too awful, I wrote with the blue pen, '_What's your name?_'

I looked at my handwriting, which was slightly slanted and a mix between sloppy and beautiful loops, for a few long seconds before showing it to him.

I could see a flash of a frown before he smiled at me and said, "Clint. My name's Clint."

* * *

_**I hope you liked it... I didn't really want to do the meeting with Fury, figured I'd flashback to it in a coming chapter :)**_

_**I realize you probably think this was a crappy place to stop it, but I liked where I ended it... The next chapter will continue right where this one left off**_

_**Please review! Even if it's to say it was a crappy chapter and I should stop whilst I'm behind, I really wanna know what you guys think! :)**_

_****Cassia**_


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